Travel Leaders, at its annual conference for franchisees in Dallas earlier this month, rolled out several technology and management tools to help affiliates to better position themselves in the marketplace and develop new business.
Included are upgrades to the franchise group's technology suite, a program to help agents recruit and manage independent contractors and a national marketing campaign that will include TV ads in major markets.
Technology
The new Internet technology platform, Travel Leaders Online, represents the biggest expansion to TravelLeaders.com since the company established an Internet presence in the 1990s, said Roger Block, president of the Travel Leaders Franchise Group.
The platform includes the Agent Profiler, a space at TravelLeaders.com where individual agents provide relevant details such as their locations and specialties. Consumers who are shopping spell out their criteria for a travel agent and are led to a Travel Leaders candidate.
Agent Profiler was launched a month ago and attracted about 300 agent participants during the soft launch with another 1,000 in the pipeline, said Jose Ferreira, vice president of technology and marketing for the franchise group.
Effective this month, Travel Leaders added two capabilities. When consumers conduct their searches, Agent Profiler now dynamically matches participating agents' profiles with relevant preferred-supplier promotions so consumers see both. Agent Profiler is also launching a live-chat capability so "agents can get to the consumers at the point of interest," Ferreira said.
Franchisees who participate in the Travel Leaders website program will be moved to the Travel Leaders Online platform beginning in January. This will give them websites with a new look plus the tools to make them "completely customizable to each agency's unique offering," Ferreira said.
Close to 140 of Travel Leaders' 330 associates participate in the franchiser's website program, but "we believe these enhancements will push members to full adoption," Ferreira said.
Travel Leaders also introduced Business.TravelLeaders.com, a national site for affiliates who focus on corporate travel. Ferreira said, "The business channel was separated out because there is limited time to get messages out."
He said this site is targeted at prospective clients' procurement and finance officers.
The site explains why prospects should choose a Travel Leaders agency and what customizable solutions are available, a press statement said.
Contractor tools
A new program called the Independent Contractor Center of Excellence project is designed to assist franchisees with attracting and meeting the needs of high-quality independent contractors (IC).
Block said the pool of independent experienced travel sellers translates into significant potential growth for franchisees, and, for that reason, Travel Leaders headquarters decided to focus on helping affiliates grow and manage IC operations.
He said the franchise group will assist with attracting ICs and will offer educational sessions to enable affiliates to avoid the pitfalls of hosting.
To the latter point, Block said, headquarters will offer criminal and financial background checks to reduce the risks with ICs. "We will have a list of people who have proven to be untrustworthy," he said, but given the delicacy of this matter, he said Travel Leaders would take legal advice on "how to do this."
Travel Leaders already offers franchisees a proprietary insurance policy to protect businesses against all types of fraud, he added.
Travel Leaders also intends to help the affiliated ICs directly, welcoming them to the organization's education programs and making direct-mail and email marketing opportunities available to them.
The contractors, he said, could also be listed with their specialties in the Agent Profiler component of the newly expanded TravelLeaders.com.
Further, Block said, ICs want to know what they have sold and how much they have earned. He said Travel Leaders is working on the tools to let ICs gather that kind of information.
With centralized assistance, Block said, Travel Leaders "will cover all the bases to allow our agents to be a dynamic force in the independent contractor business."
Products and promotions
On the product side, the group is also beefing up its network of preferred destination management companies (DMCs). Block said Travel Leaders previously had a recommended list of ground operators at select destinations, but the new network is more formal. It was launched with more than 60 service providers in 80 countries, he said.
He said Travel Leaders will organize training sessions for affiliates on how to sell the DMC products and how to mark them up.
And, as previously reported, Travel Leaders is taking a stab at boosting the brand through a package of TV and radio spots, using the theme "We Get You, We Get You There," with the tagline "Travel Better."
The commercials, developed by headquarters, are available to all franchisees, who in turn will pay for local placement, in some cases, with supplier co-op dollars in the mix. Each agency can customize the call to action.
Steve McGillivray, chief marketing officer for Travel Leaders Group, said that when devising the theme, his team "looked at what separates a retailer from all other ways to buy travel. … The unique element is the personal relationship" and the understanding of the client that "no electronic solution can have."
The TV ads are slated for the Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Milwaukee and Twin Cities markets where franchisees "band together to do this," but ads will appear in other cities where Travel Leaders is represented by one large agent, Block said.
Agents can put the ads on their proprietary websites, too, he said.